Video Transcript for Archival Research Catalog (ARC) Identifier 45016 Debrief: Apollo 8 – 1969 Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM): …like to cycle your Zero Optics switch prior to beginning P52. Narrator: Debrief: Apollo 8. Frank Borman: Roger. We’re gonna see if we can find some stars here before we do the P52. CAPCOM: And it's sort of in a paraphrase of a poem… Narrator: Debrief is to gather useful information after an event that might have gone unreported during the event itself, and to start to draw some conclusions. CAPCOM (Harrison “Jack” Schmitt): Can you read me, Apollo 8? Frank Borman: You’re loud and clear, Jack. CAPCOM (Harrison “Jack” Schmitt): Okay. ‘Twas the night before Christmas and way out in space, the Apollo 8 crew had just won… Narrator: A machine may be said to be born when it first performs a useful function. This, then, is the birth of a machine and the beginning of an achievement – 363 feet tall, weighing just under six and a quarter million pounds. Capable of 180 million horsepower, the first-stage engines came from Louisiana; the second-stage came from California, as did the third. They were proved out for the mission in Alabama. The vehicle destined to make the Moon touchdown on a later Apollo mission comes from New York. The guidance and navigation equipment within the narrow instrument ring grew in Wisconsin, was checked in Massachusetts. Electromechanicals within the Command and Service Modules are from Florida. Display systems from New Hampshire. The astronauts’ space suits are from Delaware. The mission commander was born in Indiana, grew up in Arizona. On its Moon voyage it will be controlled from Texas, serviced by computers in Maryland, splash down near Hawaii. The giant crawler on which it rides was made in Ohio. The genius and sweat of literally the entire nation ride the mission. The dream of man, the long, impossible dream to reach out to the Moon, is coming true. These men will lead the way: Colonel Frank Borman, Navy Captain Jim Lovell, Lieutenant Colonel Bill Anders. The successful conclusion, the happy ending, is history. But gaps remain. Importantly, part of the task of filling those gaps belongs to each individual, a self-debriefing to evaluate the larger significance of the event which might have gone unnoticed in the excitement. For some this reevaluation has already begun. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale: Norman Vincent Peale: The mission of Apollo 8, quite apart from its significant scientific meaning, stimulated an immense rejuvenation of the spirit of mankind. And that spirit needed rejuvenation. A year featured by two grim assassinations, by riots, by racial and social strife, and a baffling attempt to end a war left men with a dull sense of frustration. Then at the end of such a year came the Apollo 8, an incredible adventure, when three intrepid spirits circled the Moon, fascinating the imagination of man. Their willingness to stake their lives on the enterprise, the infinite perfection of detail which worked precisely, and their deep spiritual understanding of National Archives and Records Administration www.archives.gov Video Transcript for Archival Research Catalog (ARC) Identifier 45016 the greater world in which God presides, communicated a new sense of man’s greatness and gave the world a fresh sense of meaning. Narrator: Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. Ptolemy suggested that the Earth might be round. Columbus gave a practical demonstration of the fact. If any lingering doubt remains, now man has seen with his own eyes. Frank Borman: I have a beautiful view of the S-IVB and the Earth here all in one. I’ll try to get a picture for you. CAPCOM: Hope so. Narrator: The S-IVB is the third-stage rocket engine. Droplets of its vented fuel scatter around it. The speed of the spacecraft, outward bound, brings us face to face with another acceleration, a new fact of life. Historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.: Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.: The salient fact of our age is the fantastic speedup in the velocity of history. It was as recently as 1903 that the Wright brothers soared for a moment over the sand at Kitty Hawk. And today 65 years later, within the same lifetime of many men, astronauts fly around the Moon. And now the velocity of history is carrying us into a new phase in the human adventure. No one knows where this new phase will end, in what triumph or tragedy. But it is clear that the flight of Apollo 8 begins a new epoch in the history of man. Narrator: Historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Part of beginning an epoch, in the present instance, is keeping house for six days in a space about the size of the back seats of three station wagons packed for a family vacation. As you watch motion pictures taken onboard, you will hear comments relayed to Houston on the same subject. CAPCOM: How’s it hanging? James Lovell: Happiness is bacon squares for breakfast. CAPCOM: If you don't eat’em all, bring’em back; we'll polish’em off here. Frank Borman: Okay, Houston. Apollo 8 here. I stand corrected. William had one Marezine. He didn't tell me about it; he snuck it. Narrator: Part of the astronauts’ working gear is a helmet holding earphones and microphone in position. It’s called a Snoopy hat. Bill Anders: Man, you're looking pretty small down there now, Houston. CAPCOM: We're carrying a big stick, though. Bill Anders: Just barely make out Clear Lake. National Archives and Records Administration www.archives.gov Video Transcript for Archival Research Catalog (ARC) Identifier 45016 CAPCOM: And your nozzle temperatures, Bill, have dropped from about 94 to around 66. Narrator: This is Mission Control. It stands as the first rank of the unnumbered and innumerable Apollo team. Flight controllers man the consoles. They watch a continuing readout of every system in the capsule, three shifts around the clock. All flight controllers speak to the astronauts through one voice, the Capsule Communicator of each shift. He is an astronaut himself, best-suited to sense the needs, the stresses, the preoccupations, the environment of the men so far away. The line of communications is spread ‘round the world. Land bases must be supplemented by ships carrying the special equipment needed to keep the channels open. Aircraft become flying transmitters and receivers. Other nations help with deep space communications. Australians join the team in Canberra, Spaniards in Madrid; the third base is in California. Men, women, and machines spread ‘round the world. This team is knit by faith and acceptance of responsibility for perfect performance. It stretches back through the ranks to each workman involved in American industry. They kept faith in a spirit of dedication to excellence. The successful completion of the mission is a witness to how they came through. And once achieved, this dedication may be applied in other directions. Henry Ford made comment: Henry Ford: The courageous voyage of the Apollo 8 astronauts has done more than extend our knowledge of the universe. It has enlarged the spirit of man. If we can successfully challenge the mysteries and dangers of outer space, surely we can move confidently now to achieve a better, more peaceful life for our fellow humans here and throughout the planet Earth. Narrator: Mr. Henry Ford. Not all giant eyes and ears on Earth are turned toward the spacecraft. The sensing machines of the Space Particle Alert Network face the Sun. From our life-giving Sun streams a hail of infinitely small pieces of matter. On Earth we are shielded from them by our cloak of atmosphere and our magnetosphere, the integument of Van Allen belts. The men and women of SPAN monitor sunspot and solar flare activity, looking for clues to an imminent rise in the stream of potentially hazardous space particles. The team grows wider, deeper, stronger. History repeats itself in paraphrase. This is the shot seen ‘round the world. This is the first shot of Earth live on television. The mission was conducted in the plain sight of the entire world, literally. Jim Lovell: Happy birthday, Mother. Narrator: Back in 1961 when Apollo goals were first set, President Kennedy said, “Whatever mankind must undertake, all men must freely share.” Apollo 8 remained true to that pledge. On television it gave us a new look at the Moon and a new look at ourselves. This is Thomas J. Watson, Jr.: Thomas J. Watson, Jr.: Ten years ago it seemed probable that Russia would make this flight before us and would make a Moon landing first as well. With the Apollo 8 flight, it becomes National Archives and Records Administration www.archives.gov Video Transcript for Archival Research Catalog (ARC) Identifier 45016 obvious that we have moved into the lead. We can be thankful that the United States has shown the world once again that it can accomplish any tasks it decides upon. Narrator: Thomas J. Watson, Jr., chairman of the board of IBM. Direct from the deep space tracking antenna in Madrid, these pictures were passed along to the Eurovision network, to London, Paris, Rome, West Germany, Scandinavia. They were seen in Warsaw, Prague, in Moscow. Citizen of the world, winner of the Nobel Prize for peace, Dr. Ralph Bunche: Ralph Bunche: Apollo 8 and those stout-hearted astronauts have given to mankind a new and limitless perspective in the universe, and to the Earth an added dimension of proximity and neighborliness in the solar system. The epic flight of Apollo 8 in cracking the Moon barrier demonstrates that man now has the capability to soar as high and as far as his dreams may project.